Everyone in the room let out a collective sigh, and then the excitement emerged. The thought of ending the war with Russia in less than five days was something that none of them had thought possible just two days ago. America had been planning for at least another year of conflict with Russia. American factories were now using a nearly unlimited supply of Tritium4; this allowed them to produce nearly 1,000 Pershing tanks a month, and close to 200 of the F41 Archangel fighters. As new fighters were completed, they were quickly being formed into new squadrons and deployed to Europe. With the Chinese defeated in Alaska and California, and Japan having surrendered and now fighting China, the US had moved the bulk of their forces to Europe; not having to fight Russia would allow America to consolidate their forces against the Pan Asian Alliance, and possibly end this war once and for all.
The next five days were a flurry of negotiations between the allied leaders and military advisors as they collectively discussed the terms of ending the war. Most of the leaders agreed that an end of the war should be pursued. Most of Europe had suffered horrendous damage to their infrastructure and economy. Refugees had also become a serious problem as countries scrambled to find enough suitable places to house them; there was also a significant economic strain as many of the refugees required at least some government assistance. As the fighting continued and intensified in Eastern Germany, Poland and southern Europe, more and more people had been displaced from their homes. The idea of stopping this mass humanitarian crisis was very appealing.
The one aspect of the peace terms that the allied leaders were having a hard time agreeing to was allowing Russia to pursue a space program. The EU and UK were reluctant to allow the Russians into the space industry, partially because they also wanted to participate in space exploration and mining, and they did not want the additional competition in the market. President Stein lobbied hard for the proposed international monitoring force that could keep tabs on the Russian program. He also reminded the British and the Europeans that this was a necessary evil if they were to end the war. Stein also reminded everyone of the lessons of World War I; implementing punitive policies against the vanquished foe did not end well then, and no one was eager for a new world conflict.
After three days of intense negotiations, the allied leaders agreed to the terms after adding several provisions to the stipulation about the NATO monitoring group of the Russian space program. With the final details hashed out, President Stein met one last time with President Gromley and laid out the minutiae of the agreement. After many hours of reviewing the document, which surprisingly was only 24 pages in length, President Gromley approved the terms and signed the document. They had effectively just ended the war.
The following day, a news conference was held, announcing to the world that the war between NATO and Russia had officially concluded. While not all the terms of the surrender were revealed, enough of the details were showcased to demonstrate that America and NATO had the upper hand in the negotiations.
The news, of course, was met with harsh rhetoric by the Chinese and the member states of the Pan Asian Alliance, who vowed to fight on despite the Russian treachery. China immediately cut off any ties they had with the Russians, and began to shift large numbers of troops to their northern border with Russia. As the intelligence community continued to monitor the troop movements, it was becoming clear that the Chinese were considering options to attack the Russian eastern territories since the Russian military had little in the way of forces in the area to defend against a possible Chinese invasion. The Allies had also devastated the Trans-Siberian Railway and road network that connected western Russia with their eastern provinces; this would make countering a Chinese move nearly impossible.
The Russians had anticipated something like this happening, and had begun to airlift thousands of soldiers to their military bases in the east. They also had several of their armored divisions withdraw from Poland and the Ukraine, moving these fighters towards their eastern provinces via the road network. As they would encounter a destroyed portion of the railroad, they would repair as they went. The Allies began to be grateful that they had agreed to delaying the drawdown of the Russian military by six months; hopefully, this would allow them time to resolve the situation with China.
The US also began to shift forces back from Europe to the West Coast of America, and all of the EHD Reaper drones were also brought back to domestic territory. New plans for occupying Japan (and assisting them in removing the Chinese) began in earnest. The US would need to use Japan as a base of operations if they were going to consider a ground invasion of China. Secretary of State, Jim Wise, also began secretive talks with Korea. The Koreans had stayed neutral throughout the war, per their agreement with China. Secretary Wise hoped to change that decision once they saw that China was going to be invaded. His hope was to gain approval from the Koreans to allow the US to use their land as another invasion point into northern China.
As hostilities in Europe concluded, Israel, the EU, and the UK began to move soldiers and aircraft to the West Coast of America. They would also participate in the occupation of Japan and the eventual invasion of China. It had been decided nearly a year ago, at the Saint Mary Islands Conference, that China would need to be broken up. No permanent end to the war could be achieved unless China became a less powerful entity.
Mr. Speaker
The Speaker of the House and deputy chair of the Freedom Party, George Fultz, was a close friend of President Henry Stein and his Chief of Staff, Michael Montgomery. The three of these men had fashioned the blueprint for the Freedom Party, and through their business savviness, self-funding, and brute determination, had formed a fierce political machine in Florida that saw them capture the Governor’s office and then the state assembly and senate. Two years after taking the Governor’s office, Speaker Fultz ran for Congress in 2030, and then began the grassroots work with Monty to establish hundreds of field offices across the country. They began to identify congressional districts that they felt they could capture and candidates that shared their same views for the country.
By 2042, the Freedom party had gained control of four-fifths of the governors’ offices and State legislatures. The party had pushed through a lot of changes in federal laws and the Constitution. They limited the role of the Supreme Court back to the original intent of the Founding Fathers, removing their ability to legislate from the bench. No longer would judicial supremacy be allowed. They also changed the tenure of the chief justices. No longer were they life time appointments; they were now limited in their appointments to fifteen years. Following their service on the Supreme Court, they were ineligible to hold any future public office. The decision to move in this direction was met with a lot of resistance from both parties; even some in the Freedom Party disagreed with it. However, the average tenure of a Supreme Court judge is 19.6 years, so establishing a 15-year tenure seemed fair. It also helped to ensure judges would not serve on the bench until they literally died in their seat.
On this Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Speaker Fultz was meeting with Monty to discuss a very important topic. He wanted to restructure the number of years in each Congressional, Senate, and Presidential term, and implement term limits. The Freedom Party wanted to get these changes passed while they still had the votes to do it. They needed to ensure the ideals and principles of the Constitution remained intact long after the supremacy of the Freedom Party.